Any US attack on Syria to engulf entire Middle East: Rafsanjani

Demonstrators march in protest during a rally against a possible US and allies attack on Syria in Lafayette Park in front of the White House in Washington, DC on August 29, 2013.

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Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani says a potential US strike on Syria will not be limited to the Arab country and would engulf the entire region.
Rafsanjani on Saturday expressed concern about mounting tensions in Muslim countries, saying the height of these tensions were in Syria.
“It seems that the main objective of US adventurism in the region is not limited to Syria and engulfs the entire region.”
“…a US attack and aggression will probably not be confined to Syria and the outbreak of war in this country and in fact their dangerous warmongering game could engulf the entire region,” he said.
Rafsanjani warned the US and its allies against attacking Syria and said they might start the war of their own will but the end of this war would be out of their control.
He also underlined the strategic significance of Syria in the region and said Damascus was the stronghold of resistance against the Zionist regime.
The rhetoric of war against Syria primarily intensified after foreign-backed opposition forces accused the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of launching a chemical attack on militant strongholds in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21.
However, Damascus has categorically rejected the claim, and announced that the chemical attack had actually been carried out by the militants themselves as a black operation.
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday that Washington is still seeking an "international coalition" for a potential attack on Syria.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria that started in 2011.
On Wednesday, the British government, the closest US ally, had announced that its support for military intervention in Syria would require a second vote in the country’s parliament. A first non-binding vote in the British legislature on August 29 rejected British presence in a potential war on Syria.
On Friday, NATO also distanced itself from participating in any military intervention in Syria, with the chief of the Western military coalition, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, saying he did not “foresee any NATO role” in an international war on Syria.
Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011.
AR/HGH